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{{Short description|Recipient of the Victoria Cross}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Valentine McMaster
|birth_date=16 May 1834
|death_date=22 January 1872
|birth_place= [[Trichinopoly]], [[British India]]
|death_place=[[Belfast]], [[Ireland]]
|placeofburial=[[Belfast City Cemetery]]
|image= Valentine Munbee McMaster.jpg
|caption=
|nickname=
|allegiance= {{UK}}
|serviceyears= 1855 – 1872
|rank=[[Surgeon]]
|branch=[[File:Flag of the British Army.svg|23px]] [[British Army]]
|commands=
|unit=[[78th Highlanders]]<br>[[6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons]]<br>[[18th Royal Hussars|18th Hussars]]
|battles=[[Anglo-Persian War]]<br>[[Indian Mutiny]]
|awards= [[File:UK Victoria Cross ribbon bar.svg|30px]] [[Victoria Cross]]
|laterwork=
}}
Surgeon '''Valentine Munbee McMaster''' [[Victoria Cross|VC]] (16 May 1834 – 22 January 1872) was a recipient of the [[Victoria Cross]], the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to [[United Kingdom|British]] and [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] forces.

==Life==
McMaster was born in [[Tiruchirappalli]] in India and later graduated from the [[University of Edinburgh Medical School]]<ref name=Biog>{{cite web|url=http://www.vconline.org.uk/valentine-m-mcmaster-vc/4587619719.html|title=Valentine Mumbee McMaster VC: biography|website=VConline.org.uk |accessdate=8 February 2022}}</ref> with an [[Doctor of Medicine|MD]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=McMaster|first=Valentine Munbee|date=1860|title=Urinary calculi |url=https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/31655|accessdate=8 February 2022}}</ref>

He entered the army as an assistant surgeon in March 1855<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=21699 |date=24 April 1855 |page=1575}}</ref> and joined the [[78th Highlanders]], serving in the [[Anglo-Persian War|Persian War]] in 1857, before returning with the regiment to India at the beginning of the [[Indian Mutiny]]. Here, the 78th joined [[Henry Havelock|General Havelock’s]] column that advanced to relieve the [[siege of Lucknow]].<ref name=RG>{{Cite news|date=1 February 1872 |title=A Medical Hero.|page=2 |work=Ross Gazette}}</ref>

===VC action===
McMaster was a 23 years old assistant surgeon in the [[78th (Highlanders) Regiment of Foot]] (later The [[Seaforth Highlanders]]) during the [[Indian Mutiny]] when the following deed took place on 25 September 1857, at the [[Siege of Lucknow#First relief of Lucknow|first relief of Lucknow]] for which he was awarded the VC:
{{quote|For the intrepidity with which he exposed himself to the fire of the enemy, in bringing in, and attending to, the wounded, on the 25th of September, at Lucknow.

(Extract from Field Force Orders of the late Major-General Havelock, dated 17 October 1857.)<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=22154|page=2957|date=18 June 1858}}</ref>}}

McMaster was presented with the his cross by Lieutenant General [[Henry Somerset (British Army officer)|Henry Somerset]] in Bombay later that year.<ref name=Biog/> McMaster was awarded one of the eight VCs to the 78th Regiment for the Indian Mutiny. None of the awards to the 78th Regiment and no awards to Medical Officers during the Indian Mutiny were recommended under the ballot method provided in Clause 13 of the Victoria Cross Warrant. <ref>Claims that McMaster’s VC was a Clause 13 award are from F C Maude and J W Shearer, ''Memories of the Mutiny'', London 1894, Vol II, p. 536. The claim is debunked by M J Crook in ''The Evolution of the Victoria Cross'', Midas Books, 1975. See Chapter 10- awards by ballots at pages 102 -104 of the book.</ref>

===Later years===
In September 1860 McMaster transferred from the 78th Highlanders to be assistant surgeon of the [[6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons]],<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=7053 |date=28 September 1860 |page=1186|city=Edinburgh }}</ref> moving to the [[18th Royal Hussars|18th Hussars]] in June 1864.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=7438 |date=7 June 1864 |page=750|city=Edinburgh }}</ref> Promoted to the rank of staff-surgeon in March 1868,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=23361 |date=13 March 1868|page=1648}}</ref> he returned to the 78th Highlanders in March 1869.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=23476 |date=5 March 1869 |page=1515}}</ref> The same year, the 78th were posted to [[Halifax, Nova Scotia]], where McMaster married Eleanor Burmester in June 1870. They has two sons, one born after McMaster's death. In November 1871 the 78th moved to Belfast where, on 22 January 1872, McMaster died of heart disease aged 37. He was buried in [[Belfast City Cemetery]].<ref name=Biog/> There is a memorial to his memory in [[St. Columb's Cathedral]] in Derry.

McMaster's widow Eleanor returned to Canada,<ref name=Biog/> where she married Canadian surgeon [[Campbell Mellis Douglas]], who had won the VC in the 1867 [[Andaman Islands expedition]].<ref>[http://www.ramcjournal.com/2007/sep07/starling.pdf RAMC Journal] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715152717/http://www.ramcjournal.com/2007/sep07/starling.pdf |date=15 July 2011 }}</ref>

==The medal==
His Victoria Cross is displayed at the [[National War Museum of Scotland]] in [[Edinburgh Castle]].<ref name=Biog/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*[[Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross]] (Richard Doherty & David Truesdale, 2000) {{ISBN|185182491X}}
*[[Monuments to Courage]] (David Harvey, 1999)
*[[The Register of the Victoria Cross]] (This England, 1997) {{ISBN|0906324270}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120716192304/http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/stewart/nireland.htm Location of grave and VC medal] ''(Belfast, Northern Ireland)''
* [http://www.britishmedals.us/people/mcmaster.html Biography]

{{Royal Regiments of Scotland}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:McMaster, Valentine Munbee}}
[[Category:1834 births]]
[[Category:1872 deaths]]
[[Category:78th Highlanders officers]]
[[Category:6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons officers]]
[[Category:18th Royal Hussars officers]]
[[Category:Indian Rebellion of 1857 recipients of the Victoria Cross]]
[[Category:British Army regimental surgeons]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Tiruchirappalli]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Umbeyla Campaign]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Anglo-Persian War]]
[[Category:British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Burials at Belfast City Cemetery]]
[[Category:British people in colonial India]]

Valentine McMaster - Revision history

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